Sovereign God is a powerful God. This daily devotional looks at what that power means and how God uses it.
Nuggets
- God’s omnipotence is shown in His ability to create things.
- God is able to do everything with ease.
- Even though God’s power earned Him the other name of Lord Almighty, He is also our Father.
- God’s power is never ending and goes beyond what we can imagine.
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Devotions in the Finding Our Center series
It is logical to think that a Sovereign God is also powerful. The churchy word for it is omnipotent.
Let's Put It into Context #1
Here is a running list of what we’ve discussed previously.
Let's Put It into Context #2
We’ve looked at God being omnipotent before. We said that omnipotent means God is all-powerful.
Looking at mostly different verses, we came up with these nuggets.
- God created everything we see — and a lot of things we don’t see.
- He interconnects things and causes events to produce the outcomes needed to grow our characters.
- God is eternal and consistent.
- We have a tendency to limit God to what we know or think — or, especially, want, but His ways are so. much higher than ours.
Let’s look some other verses that show God’s omnipotence.
Omnipotent God Created the Universe
“The heavens were made by the word of the Lord, and all the stars, by the breath of his mouth” (Ps. 33: 6 CSB)
God’s omnipotence is shown in His ability to create things.
The creation story is often used to show God’s omnipotence. Well, isn’t it a good example?
No, we don’t know the whole story. We don’t know if things popped up fully made, floated into existence over a period of time, or some combination thereof.
What we do know is that God spoke all the “let there be” statements — and it was. We also know that He raised His right arm. “My hand laid the foundation of the earth, and my right hand spread out the heavens; when I call to them, they stand forth together” (Isa. 48: 13 ESV).
That is all the how we need to know — God commanded, and it happened. That tells us God is powerful.
The Positively Driven Christian website added to our understanding of the definition of omnipotent. They said that omnipotent is “having unlimited power with the ability to do anything.”
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We have other examples of God’s power.
No, God does not have to obey the laws of nature. God made the laws of nature, so He can supersede them when He so chooses.
Think about it. He is One powerful God. However, He does not limit Himself to working in nature.
God works through every detail of our lives. I know I always say God is more interested in our spiritual condition than our physical condition.
That doesn’t mean God isn’t interested — and involved — in our physical condition. He is. Our spiritual condition has priority.
Dykes warned us about going to the extremes when we consider God and nature. Nature is not a manifestation of God. But neither is it devoid of God. The creation must have the hand of the Creator in it.
Because of God’s Will, the universe was created. If God had the power but not the Will, nothing would have been made.
God wanted mankind created. He wanted a beautiful world for us to live in — He originally made a paradise.
Ooo, baby. Dykes thought that mankind mucked it up. He wrote, “The sense of Nature’s unity grew feeble. Men came to see not so much one God speaking through all His creatures, as rather a separate morsel of divinity inherent in each separate creature.”
Resource
Okay, let’s unpack that. There are some that cannot see God as the overall Creator of the universe. But I think there is an even deeper application of that.
Instead of being united in God’s kingdom, many are more interested in what God has to give us individually. We think He is God of our career choice, soulmate, and bank account first and foremost.
That isn’t God’s priority. His priority is expanding His kingdom — welcoming us back into the fold to be His children. Yes, He is always about salvation first.
Unfortunately, I wonder how many times the what-is-in-it-for-me attitude has led to the I-don’t-need-God attitude. When that is superimposed over I-can-do-it-myself mantra, we’ve slipped into Satan’s control.
Omnipotent God Can Do the Impossible
“For nothing will be impossible with God” (Lk. 1: 37 CSB)
“And he said, ‘Abba, Father! All things are possible for you. Take this cup away from me. Nevertheless, not what I will, but what you will’” (Mk. 14: 36 CSB)
“Jesus looked at them and said, ‘With man this is impossible, but with God all things are possible’” (Mt. 19: 26 CSB)
God is able to do everything with ease.
Okay. I have read these verses all my life. I always read them to mean that God could do anything.
When I looked at a Bible Study Tools article, I read, “God is able and powerful to do anything he wills without any effort on his part.”
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Nothing is easy or hard for God. The Blue Letter Bible took that a step further and said things are either done or not done with God.
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That takes it out of whether God can do it. It firmly puts it into it is God’s choice on what to do.
God’s love for us and His character of goodness is driving that car. “And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose” (Rom. 8: 28 NIV).
The things that God allows happen to us — even the bad things — are going to have a good purpose. That purpose is going to be His purpose, not our own.
When we think of something being difficult, we think that there would be a possibility that God would not complete His purpose. We know that isn’t going to happen. “I am sure of this, that he who started a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus” (Phil. 1: 6 CSB).
Speare took the discussions step further than that. He wrote, “God’s will and plans are objective realities; they have definite and all-important direction and demands.”
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A couple devotions back we said that God does not change. Neither His character changes, nor does He change His mind. What He plans for us will come to fruition.
That makes them reality.
Omnipotent God Is Almighty
“And I will be a Father to you, and you will be sons and daughters to me, says the Lord Almighty” (II Cor. 6: 18 CSB)
Even though God’s power earned Him the other name of Lord Almighty, He is also our Father.
Another way that God’s power is acknowledged is by calling Him the Lord Almighty. Then we hook that with His promise that He is our Father. If He said He will be our Father, He will be if we ABCD.
The ABCDs of Salvation
If you have not become a believer in Christ, please read through the
Plan of Salvation and prayerfully consider what God is asking you to do.
A – admit our sins
B – believe His Son Jesus is our Redeemer
C – confess God as Sovereign Lord
D – demonstrate that commitment by making any changes needed in our lives to
live the way in which God has called us
The Disciple’s Job Description
Glossary
Think about it. The powerful God is our Father. He is our Provider and Protector. God is love, merciful, and just.
And He is ours when we submit to Him.
I was asked earlier this week how I could say that God is an omnipotent God but that he allowed us free will. Free will is the ability within us to make decisions, which determine actions that produce character.
My response was, basically, that the two terms are not mutually exclusive. God is powerful, but He is not a dictator. He allows us to make our own decisions. We will have to pay the consequences of those decisions, but He doesn’t force Himself on us.
Omnipotent God’s Power Goes Above and Beyond
“Now to him who is able to do above and beyond all that we ask or think according to the power that works in us” (Eph. 3: 20)
God’s power is never ending and goes beyond what we can imagine.
What God does or doesn’t do isn’t tied to what we ask or think. God is going to follow His plan for us.
But look at the end of the verse. His power is in us. His power that raised Jesus and others from the dead, that split the Red Sea and the Jordon River, that stopped the sun from making its trek to night — that power is in His children. It is in us.
24/7/365.
We have to remember that God won’t do anything that is not in His nature. He will remain pure.
We’ve used this verse a couple of times recently to make points. The first what’s when we said that grace isn’t just a good will gesture from God. It is His actions — actions fueled by His power.
The last time was when we were talking about God being self-sufficient. We said that God is self-sufficient and meets our needs according to His riches and power.
To read a related devotion, click on the appropriate button below.
God is powerful and can and will provide for us whether we ask Him to or not. He will provide in the way that is best for us.
Making the Connections
Woolsey contended that we cannot separate God’s power from His wisdom. If we did, there would be no stability.
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Ferguson reminded us that God does have the power to create. He wrote, “He alone has that mysterious energy which called everything we see out of nothing.”
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We just have to look at the human body to see God’s wisdom on display. It is up to us to acknowledge that wisdom.
Power alone may not provide the best answer to a situation. Wisdom alone may not get the job done.
We need God to work in our lives through His power and in His wisdom.
Ferguson added that God utilizes His power and wisdom through His goodness. This encompasses His mercy, compassion, and love.
Okay. We are going to chase a rabbit for a second. My Insomnia Buddy and I just had a discussion on how we should look at ourselves the way God looks at us. God is more interested in our relationship than our do’s and don’ts.
Then Lauren Daigle’s new song came on the radio. This is how our Father loves us. He will love us when we don’t love ourselves. Someone may need to hear this today.
Song
Lauren Daigle
The Lord God Almighty will hold onto His children.
How Do We Apply This?
Lamson suggested that we can tap into God’s power when we are tempted. God doesn’t leave us alone to wrestle with temptation.
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In fact, we can tap into God’s power whenever we need Him. He wants us to depend on Him.
Loving Father. You are all-powerful. You can create, and You can destroy. Whatever You choose to do will be in like with Your character, so we know that it will be done though love and goodness. Help us to put our faith and trust in You. Amen.
What do you think?
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